Shakespeare
was a dramatist and a poet. None of his own manuscripts of his works
survive, so we have only those of his plays and poems that were
printed. Scholars have worked closely with these editions for more
than 350 years, trying to establish what Shakespeare originally
wrote.

Thirty-seven plays are now regarded as by Shakespeare, and he collaborated
with other dramatists on at least four more. He created his plays
between about 1590 and 1614, and they began to be printed in cheap
quarto editions in 1594. Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had
appeared in quarto by the year of his death, 1616.

In 1623, Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories,
& Tragedies appeared in an expensive folio volume. This
contained 36 plays and is now universally referred to as the First
Folio. The quartos and the First Folio ensured that Shakespeare’s
plays survived when they were no longer performed. These printed
editions have been used since the 17th century by actors and directors
to return Shakespeare’s plays to the stage. There is much
debate among scholars about how the printed texts represent Shakespeare’s
original plays.

Between about 1592 and 1604, Shakespeare wrote four poems as well
as creating a collection of sonnets. These were printed in quarto
editions between 1593 and 1609. Scholarly debate about the printed
editions of the poems has focussed particularly on The Sonnets.